Launchcode

I was a Massage Therapist. I found an editors list of the top 10 coding bootcamps from around the country. I did some online work for the number one rated, but ultimately chose LaunchCode, ninth rated, because it is completely free to students and it... Read More was local to me (Saint Louis.)

LC101, the introduction class, was HARD and you get out of it what you put in. If you don't study enough and keep up you will get dropped, only about 70% of my class graduated.

Graduating doesn't mean job placement, you have to take the skills you have learned and prove you can code projects to completion on your own. They recently added Liftoff (8 weeks), to help with that process, I am taking it and in week 3.

Additionally, once you apply and get into the Apprenticeship Program, you have to be able to prove to companies that your project and your communication skills are good enough to do whatever job they need you to do in the real world. I am the over-achieving type, I coded a project to completion while between Units 2 and 3 and applied to the apprenticeship program with it. Because there are so many people who got into the apprenticeship program before me that they are trying to place, it took them about 7 weeks to get back to me with my first: would you like us to send your resume to company X? email. Then it is up to company X if they want to interview you.

I, apparently, impressed my first company interviewer, but wasn't offered a job. My second interviewer did offer me a job, and my third interviewer (within days of the second) seems to want to meet with other candidates. Additionally, I graduated on a Thursday, and I started to TA the following LC101 class the next Monday, at the time of writing this, that class is 3 of 20 weeks into their program. Yesterday, I decided to accept the offer from the second interview, I spent part of today doing the onboarding.

In general, the community and atmosphere at LaunchCode is amazing and they are super supportive and helpful, they have an online chatroom that is always busy answering questions, offering support, or just trying to make you laugh: Today in the chatroom: person 1: what if the cheese was shredded? person 2: then the answer would be grate!

The student to TA ratio is about 11 to 1, but the class size is generally somewhere in the 250-350 range, meaning that: if your TA or members of your TA group can't answer the question, bounce it off one of the other 23 or more TA's or post it in general chat seen by all. Someone gets back to you fast.

I'd considered getting into computer programming for a number of years, but couldn't afford to go back to college for another degree that may or may not lead to a job, and I had a hard time staying focused when trying free, self-guided programs online.... Read More One of my partner's former co-workers went through LaunchCode's learning program and was ultimately placed in an apprenticeship, and recommended it highly to her when she mentioned that I'd been interested in programming. Initially I was pretty skeptical. How can a program offer free, no-strings-attached education to hundreds of students a year and be any good?

I realized later that the only way to do that is if your learning program is actually EXTREMELY good. My LaunchCode experience was filled with excited students, talented teachers, and supportive staff. They taught me everything I needed to know to become a web developer, provided resume and job interview support, and introduced me to a community of learners and developers who could serve as support in my job search. I and several of my friends (as well as many of the people I've met through LaunchCode) have gotten new careers in technology as a result of LaunchCode's entirely free programs.

The thing I've realized most through my interactions with LaunchCode is that they're not some for-profit bootcamp or recruiting firm who is just looking to make some quick money or only help the best of the best. Everyone I've met who works at LaunchCode is working there because they really care about the organization's mission and are determined to help anyone and everyone who is willing to put in the effort get their first programming job.

LaunchCode absolutely changed the lives of me and some of the most important people to me, and I cannot possibly recommend them enough.

This is a good intro course to Computer Science, web development and programming in general. Do this if you have the time and motivation, but don't do it for the job placement. After I finished the course, the person "helping" me to get a job or internship... Read More eventually stopped replying my inquiries and status update requests on that job. I wouldn't recommend this course in general.

I passed the HackerRank test and got accepted into the LaunchCode apprenticeship-to-work placement program. I have yet to be placed. If you look at the success stories on their blog they seem to give priority in placing people with computer science degrees... Read More from other countries, which is a misrepresentation. I did not attend their bootcamp, rather I took a few programming classes as part of a non-computer science degree.

I attended the first Launchcode class in Portland, OR and was very excited to be accepted. The instructor was great and most of the “teaching fellows” were great also. My frustration came from two things primarily. One being that the curriculum was literally... Read More being developed (and sometimes changed) as we progressed. Maybe it’s me, but I believe if you’re going to do a professional training school like this the curriculum should be already done, tried and tested. The second most frustrating thing for me was the “dependency” on searching for answers on the internet. Some can do that inherently right off, others need to have it explained to them first to better understand so they can then search more easily for it and/or may possibly need help getting that thought process running to search for resources. Overall though I feel for the privilege I had to attend a coding school at no cost I came away with a wealth of knowledge that I will be able to turn into a new career. Great school with great people if you’re able to learn a good majority of the material on your own. Most of my help came from fellow students and I feel that if not for that and the support of a couple very dedicated teaching fellows I couldn’t have made it through. For two nights a week and no tuition it’s great. Would be even better if they can find ways to improve issues mentioned.

My experience was less than, what I would consider, professional. I took the Hacker Rank test either in December or early January, filled out the application, and didn't hear anything back. The website said that I would know whether or not I was accepted... Read More into the program in March and when I didn't hear anything and wrote to them, I was told that they had extended the application deadline by a week. That's fine, but it seems like a mass email was warranted letting everyone know that we wouldn't hear back until later. When I was finally disqualified, it said that there would be information as to why on the dashboard of Launch Code's website, but there wasn't. I sent an email to the address provided to find out more information and never heard back. So I'm left wondering why I wasn't accepted. I was then sent an email asking me to review my experience with them and they provided another email address where you could ask questions. I told them about my experience and again asked what disqualified me, but no one ever responded. It's now almost two months later, I've sent three messages requesting information, and no one has ever gotten back to me. I can only assume that I was disqualified because I'm a middle-aged woman and I have a feeling that they didn't respond because they know that they are legally in the wrong. I can't imagine another reason for them to not even respond after THREE attempts on my part. This is just despicable.

Pro: They curate good resources for code education. The environment is encouraging and positive. It was free when I did it!

Con: The job placement process was disheartening. Their success rate stats are misleading. They place people with CS undergraduate... Read More degrees into jobs too. That dilutes their failure rates for people starting fresh in the 3-9 month bootcamp CS education. Many (most?) of the bootcampers are not successful in jobs and apprenticeships Launchcode finds them. Many- not all- people need to get an undergraduate degree in CS if they really want to do this stuff.

In Summary: you will learn a lot and gain confidence. These people will use your hopes to enliven their program, take all your free time, and then they will disappoint you. This is a better option than any other bootcamp on here because it is FREE.